The Last Motel Light

I left at three in the morning With a paper cup cooling in my hand The radio barely working Static drifting through the dark again My suitcase leaned by the passenger door That old blue chevy s at every light I crossed the railroad tracks outside town Under a cold july sky In the mirror Everything was getting small The diner, the church The water tower and all And the last motel light Burned behind me all night Like it knew i was gone for good Before i knew it myself Just one yellow square Floating soft in the air Holding all of the years I could never pack The last motel light The last motel light Room seventeen was empty The neon sign had lost the letter e Mrs. parker folded towels By the office where she'd wave to me I thought about my father Smoking by the ice machine Neither one of us could say goodbye The way we really mean Mile by mile The highway opened wide But part of me Was still there tonight And the last motel light Burned behind me all night Like it knew i was gone for good Before i knew it myself Just one yellow square Floating soft in the air Holding all of the years I could never pack The last motel light The last motel light Maybe some things stay with you Long after the road bends away Maybe every road you leave behind Finds a quiet way to stay And the last motel light Still burns somewhere tonight In the dust on the dashboard And the songs i never play Just one yellow square Still hanging in the air Like a photograph fading But refusing to change The last motel light The last motel light Still shining The last motel light